In (the) old volunteer fire department there were many highly
interesting characters. Take Jake Kuhrts, for
instance. This gentleman has kept up his interest in fire
matters to the present day, and as fire commissioner his advice
has been invaluable to the body of which he is a member.
Many a time has Jake stretched his long legs in racing to fires as
a member of the old "Thirty-Eights," setting a pace
which many a shorter limbed man had much ado to keep up.
Jake is of German birth and began life as a sailor. He is
rich and has a rightful claim to be a man of leisure. He is
a compound of Nimrod and Izaak Walton, and with gun and rod he
puts in his time right pleasantly, keeping an eye on the closed
seasons on land and water, and seeing to it that everything goes
well with the fire laddies.

Excerpts from an article written by Joseph D.
Lynch
for the Los Angeles Herald, June 25,
1905.